Week 14 Recap: It’s All About The Mo’

No one remembers where his or her teams were Week 4, or even Week 7. If you beat the Patriots in Week 3, that doesn’t carry much weight anymore. It’s like being the best baseball player in your town when you were 6 years old: no one cares. So what do people care about? The Mo’. Momentum is all that matters at this point in the year. Sure you can’t start winning Week 14 and expect to make the playoffs, but even that kind of momentum can inspire hope for next year. If you’re going to make a playoff run, you have to finish strong. Which teams have the most momentum right now?

The only way you don’t know what the Patriots have been doing to their opponents is if you’ve been expecting the apocalypse and have been in your bunker for the past few weeks. They’ve won seven games in a row, scoring over 36 points in six of those. The Pats have raised beat downs to an art form. Last night, the Texans lost all fight by half. I thought J.J. Watt looked like he wanted to cry on a few occasions. Their playoff hopes seem bright after locking up another 10-win season. They’ll get another challenge with the 49ers coming to Foxborough next week.

Washington Redskins

A lot of this will depend on RG III’s status going forward. Right now he’s been diagnosed with a “grade 1 LCL strain”. Seriously, how many CL’s are there? What you need to take away from this is: it’s not that bad. I thought his knee exploded after watching the hit. RG III has been way too cavalier with his body. Hopefully, this is the wake up call for him to start taking better care of his body, getting down before contact, and avoiding some physical pain. With RG III healthy, this team is extremely dangerous. They’ve won four games in a row and have a favorable schedule compared to the Giants. They could end up walking away with the NFC East.

Indianapolis Colts

Vick Ballard has been a great addition for this offense as Donald Brown battles injury.

The AFC South was set to be the laughing stock of the NFL with the Titans, Jaguars, and Colts. The Titans and Jags followed the game plan, but the Colts did the unexpected. They’ve won seven out of the last eight, with the sole loss coming against the Pats. The Colts have shown they can pass the ball with the best of them, and Andrew Luck is averaging 41 attempts per game. Question marks remain on the defensive side of the ball. Right now they rank 19th in rushing defense (120.6 YPG) and 20th in pass defense (241.8 YPG). They’ll need to stiffen up on defense to win a playoff game. Honestly, I’m so impressed with this team; a playoff birth will seem like the second coming for Indy.

Denver Broncos

What’s the one team to have a better win streak than the Patriots? Sorry, no, it’s not the Raiders. The Broncos have put together a quiet eight in a row. O.K., the talk about Peyton Manning has never been quiet, but this team has been smoothly taking care of business. They don’t blow teams out, but they don’t let any team get too close either. Now at 10-3 and winners of the AFC West, they travel to Baltimore to take on the Ravens in their last test before the postseason. It’ll be extremely important that they address this as their last game to prepare for the playoffs (Cleveland and Kansas City in the last two weeks).